The Weekend Bucket List
Author: Mia Kerick
Release Date: April 19th 2018
Genre: Young Adult, LGBT
BLURB
High school seniors Cady LaBrie and Cooper Murphy have yet to set one toe out of line—they’ve never stayed out all night or snuck into a movie, never gotten drunk or gone skinny-dipping. But they have each other, forty-eight hours before graduation, and a Weekend Bucket List.
There’s a lot riding on this one weekend, especially since Cady and Cooper have yet to admit, much less resolve, their confounding feelings for one another—feelings that prove even more difficult to discern when genial high school dropout Eli Stanley joins their epic adventure. But as the trio ticks through their bucket list, the questions they face shift toward something new: Must friendship play second fiddle to romance? Or can it be the ultimate prize?
Find The Weekend Bucket List on Goodreads
EXCERPT
She acts as if this was my big idea, but The Weekend Bucket List has got Cady LaBrie’s name written all over it. She’s persuasive, though—the girl has almost got me believing I came up with the idea to do everything we never did that “normal” kids do in high school, all in the forty-eight hours before graduation. We have a lot of lost time to make up for.
“These fries are so good.” Cady’s eyes are closed like she’s in goddamned ecstasy. I’m not sure why, but I look away.
“How can you eat so freaking much and stay so freaking skinny?” I ask, as Cady starts in on her second large order of french fries. And these are just appetizers.
“I’m petite, Cooper. Not skinny... and you’re skinny, too.”
I shrug and suck futilely on the straw that stands straight in my vanilla shake.
“Whatever.” It doesn’t matter how thick the shake is; I’m in no rush to suck it down. Cady’s the talker in this relationship, so all I’ve got to do is sit here and listen.
Carra's Review
So, I have very mixed feelings about this book. Usually that means a pros/cons type review works best for me, so here goes…
Pros:
-The idea of a bucket list—regardless of the reason behind why Cady and Cooper created the list, the idea of setting goals and being able to check them off appeals to my OCD side. The list they start out the story with may seem silly, but the idea of setting goals and achieving them together with one’s best friend is alluring.
-Eli—I absolutely fell in love with Eli. He is so sweet, open and ready to be friends, and his innocence is refreshing especially in the face of what his life has been like. And once that first weekend is over, and Cady and Cooper’s graduation is done, I was both heartbroken and furious…not to mention in tears for Eli (and I’m doing it again right now as I’m typing this…sorry for the tease, but urrrggghhh!).
-This story is about the journey, coming of age, and realizing the importance of real friendship.
Cons:
-Granted, my high school senior year days are pretty far behind me, but I don’t ever remember others my age then acting so immaturely…maybe it was just the people with whom I was friends, but even today when I see younger family members or children of friends, they don’t come across like these characters did.
-Cady—her attitude and complete turnaround towards Eli one that first weekend was done, then her ongoing spiral…she took the word selfish to new levels, and frankly from the end of that first weekend through the end of the book I could not see her the same again, even with the last weekend. And while Cooper does bear a part of the blame, he at least sees the wrong of it and makes amends (but him so blatantly blowing off number two on his valedictorian speech’s bucket list pissed me off as well).
-When things got sappy—this was more toward the end of the story when Cady was trying to pull things back together.
Overall, I’m staying in the middle of the road on this one, but I can unequivocally state the Eli is the best part of this story for me…so I’m laying claim to him and giving him the 3.5 stars because he more than deserves them. He actually deserves a whole lot more.
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About the Author
Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—a daughter in law school, another in dance school, a third studying at Mia’s alma mater, Boston College, and her lone son still in high school. She writes LGBTQ romance when not editing National Honor Society essays, offering opinions on college and law school applications, helping to create dance bios, and reviewing English papers. Her husband of twenty-four years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about this, as it is a sensitive subject.Mia focuses her stories on emotional growth in turbulent relationships. As she has a great affinity for the tortured hero, there is, at minimum, one in each book. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with tales of said tortured heroes (most of whom happened to strongly resemble lead vocalists of 1980s big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She is thankful to Dreamspinner Press and Harmony Ink Press for providing alternate places to stash her stories.
Her books have won a Best YA Lesbian Rainbow Award, a Reader Views’ Book by Book Publicity Literary Award, the Jack Eadon Award for Best Book in Contemporary Drama, an Indie Fab Award, and a Royal Dragonfly Award for Cultural Diversity, among other awards.
Mia is a Progressive, a little bit too obsessed by politics, and cheers for each and every victory in the name of human rights. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.
Contact Mia at miakerick@gmail.com. Visit her website for updates on what is going on in Mia’s world, rants, music, parties, and pictures, and maybe even a little bit of inspiration.
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